- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/152/170
- Title:
- RRLs in globulars. IV. UBVRI photometry in Omega Cen
- Short Name:
- J/AJ/152/170
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- New accurate and homogeneous optical UBVRI photometry has been obtained for variable stars in the Galactic globular cluster {omega} Cen (NGC 5139). We secured 8202 CCD images covering a time interval of 24 years and a sky area of 84x48arcmin. The current data were complemented with data available in the literature and provided new, homogeneous pulsation parameters (mean magnitudes, luminosity amplitudes, periods) for 187 candidate {omega} Cen RR Lyrae (RRLs). Among them we have 101 RRc (first overtone) and 85 RRab (fundamental) variables, and a single candidate RRd (double-mode) variable. Candidate Blazhko RRLs show periods and colors that are intermediate between the RRc and RRab variables, suggesting that they are transitional objects. A comparison of the period distribution and the Bailey diagram indicates that RRLs in {omega} Cen show a long-period tail not present in typical Oosterhoff II (OoII) globulars. The RRLs in dwarf spheroidals and in ultra-faint dwarfs have properties between Oosterhoff intermediate and OoII clusters. Metallicity plays a key role in shaping the above evidence. These findings do not support the hypothesis that {omega} Cen is the core remnant of a spoiled dwarf galaxy. Using optical period-Wesenheit relations that are reddening-free and minimally dependent on metallicity we find a mean distance to {omega} Cen of 13.71+/-0.08+/-0.01mag (semi-empirical and theoretical calibrations). Finally, we invert the I-band period-luminosity-metallicity relation to estimate individual RRLs' metal abundances. The metallicity distribution agrees quite well with spectroscopic and photometric metallicity estimates available in the literature.
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- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/155/137
- Title:
- RRLs in globulars. V.{omega} Centauri NIR photometry
- Short Name:
- J/AJ/155/137
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present a new complete near-infrared (NIR, JHK_s_) census of RR Lyrae stars (RRLs) in the globular {omega} Cen (NGC 5139). We collected 15472 JHK_s_ images with 4-8 m class telescopes over 15 years (2000-2015) covering a sky area around the cluster center of 60x34 arcmin^2^. These images provided calibrated photometry for 182 out of the 198 cluster RRL candidates with 10 to 60 measurements per band. We also provide new homogeneous estimates of the photometric amplitude for 180 (J), 176 (H) and 174 (K_s_) RRLs. These data were supplemented with single-epoch JK_s_ magnitudes from VHS (Mcmahon et al. 2013Msngr.154...35M) and with single-epoch H magnitudes from 2MASS (Cat. VII/233). Using proprietary optical and NIR data together with new optical light curves (ASAS-SN) we also updated pulsation periods for 59 candidate RRLs. As a whole, we provide JHK_s_ magnitudes for 90 RRab (fundamentals), 103 RRc (first overtones) and one RRd (mixed-mode pulsator). We found that NIR/optical photometric amplitude ratios increase when moving from first overtone to fundamental and to long-period (P>0.7 days) fundamental RRLs. Using predicted period-luminosity-metallicity relations, we derive a true distance modulus of 13.674+/-0.008+/-0.038 mag (statistical error and standard deviation of the median) based on spectroscopic iron abundances, and of 13.698+/-0.004+/-0.048 mag based on photometric iron abundances. We also found evidence of possible systematics at the 5%-10% level in the zero-point of the period-luminosity relations based on the five calibrating RRLs whose parallaxes had been determined with the HST.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/140/1766
- Title:
- RR Lyrae in M62 (NGC6266)
- Short Name:
- J/AJ/140/1766
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present new time-series CCD photometry, in the B and V bands, for the moderately metal-rich ([Fe/H]=~-1.3) Galactic globular cluster M62 (NGC 6266). The present data set is the largest obtained so far for this cluster and consists of 168 images per filter, obtained with the Warsaw 1.3m telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory and the 1.3m telescope of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, in two separate runs over the time span of 3 months.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/158/223
- Title:
- RR Lyrae members of the Pal 5 stellar stream
- Short Name:
- J/AJ/158/223
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Thin stellar streams, formed from the tidal disruption of globular clusters, are important gravitational tools, sensitive to both global and small-scale properties of dark matter. The Palomar 5 stellar stream (Pal 5) is an exemplar stream within the Milky Way: its ~20{deg} tidal tails connect back to the progenitor cluster, and the stream has been used to study the shape, total mass, and substructure fraction of the dark matter distribution of the Galaxy. However, most details of the phase-space distribution of the stream are not fully explained, and dynamical models that use the stream for other inferences are therefore incomplete. Here we aim to measure distance and kinematic properties along the Pal 5 stream in order to motivate improved models of the system. We use a large catalog of RR Lyrae-type stars (RRLs) with astrometric data from the Gaia mission to probabilistically identify RRLs in the Pal 5 stream. RRLs are useful because they are intrinsically luminous standard candles and their distances can be inferred with small relative precision (~3%). By building a probabilistic model of the Pal 5 cluster and stream in proper motion and distance, we find 27 RRLs consistent with being members of the cluster (10) and stream (17). Using these RRLs, we detect gradients in distance and proper motion along the stream, and provide an updated measurement of the distance to the Pal 5 cluster using the RRLs, d=20.6+/-0.2 kpc. We provide a catalog of Pal 5 RRLs with inferred membership probabilities for future modeling work.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/767/62
- Title:
- RR Lyrae stars BV photometry in UMa I
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/767/62
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We have performed the first study of the variable star population of Ursa Major I (UMa I), an ultra-faint dwarf satellite recently discovered around the Milky Way (MW) by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Combining time series observations in the B and V bands from four different telescopes, we have identified seven RR Lyrae stars in UMa I, of which five are fundamental-mode (RRab) and two are first-overtone pulsators (RRc). Our V, B-V color-magnitude diagram of UMa I reaches V~23mag (at a signal-to-noise ratio of ~6) and shows features typical of a single old stellar population. The mean pulsation period of the RRab stars <P_ab_>=0.628, {sigma}=0.071 days (or <P_ab_>=0.599, {sigma}=0.032 days, if V4, the longest period and brightest variable, is discarded) and the position on the period-amplitude diagram suggest an Oosterhoff-intermediate classification for the galaxy. The RR Lyrae stars trace the galaxy horizontal branch (HB) at an average apparent magnitude of <V(RR)>=20.43+/-0.02mag (average on six stars and discarding V4), giving in turn a distance modulus for UMa I of (m-M)_0_=19.94+/-0.13mag, distance d=97.3_-5.7_^+6.0^kpc, in the scale where the distance modulus of the Large Magellanic Cloud is 18.5+/-0.1mag. Isodensity contours of UMa I red giants and HB stars (including the RR Lyrae stars identified in this study) show that the galaxy has an S-shaped structure, which is likely caused by the tidal interaction with the MW. Photometric metallicities were derived for six of the UMa I RR Lyrae stars from the parameters of the Fourier decomposition of the V-band light curves, leading to an average metal abundance of [Fe/H]=-2.29dex ({sigma}=0.06dex, average on six stars) on the Carretta et al. (2009, J/A+A/505/117) metallicity scale.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/153/204
- Title:
- RR Lyrae stars from the PS1 3{pi} survey
- Short Name:
- J/AJ/153/204
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- RR Lyrae stars may be the best practical tracers of Galactic halo (sub-)structure and kinematics. The PanSTARRS1 (PS1) 3{pi} survey offers multi-band, multi-epoch, precise photometry across much of the sky, but a robust identification of RR Lyrae stars in this data set poses a challenge, given PS1's sparse, asynchronous multi-band light curves (<~12 epochs in each of five bands, taken over a 4.5yr period). We present a novel template fitting technique that uses well-defined and physically motivated multi-band light curves of RR Lyrae stars, and demonstrate that we get accurate period estimates, precise to 2s in >80% of cases. We augment these light-curve fits with other features from photometric time-series and provide them to progressively more detailed machine-learned classification models. From these models, we are able to select the widest (three-fourths of the sky) and deepest (reaching 120kpc) sample of RR Lyrae stars to date. The PS1 sample of ~45000 RRab stars is pure (90%) and complete (80% at 80kpc) at high galactic latitudes. It also provides distances that are precise to 3%, measured with newly derived period-luminosity relations for optical/near-infrared PS1 bands. With the addition of proper motions from Gaia and radial velocity measurements from multi-object spectroscopic surveys, we expect the PS1 sample of RR Lyrae stars to become the premier source for studying the structure, kinematics, and the gravitational potential of the Galactic halo. The techniques presented in this study should translate well to other sparse, multi-band data sets, such as those produced by the Dark Energy Survey and the upcoming Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Galactic plane sub-survey.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/861/23
- Title:
- RR Lyrae variables in the Crater II dwarf galaxy
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/861/23
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We report the detection of RR Lyrae variable stars in Crater II, a recently discovered large and diffuse satellite dwarf galaxy of the Milky Way (MW). Based on B, V time-series photometry obtained with the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network 1.6m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, we identified 83 ab-type and 13 c-type pulsators by fitting template light curves. The detected RR Lyrae stars are centrally concentrated, which ensures that most of them are members of Crater II. In terms of the distribution of RRab stars in the period-amplitude diagram, Crater II is clearly different from ultra-faint dwarf (UFD) galaxies, but very similar to the two classical MW dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies Draco and Carina with Oosterhoff-intermediate (Oo-int) properties. Combined with the mean period of ab-type variables (<P_ab_>=0.631+/-0.004days) and the c-type fraction (~0.14) in Crater II, this suggests an Oo-int classification for Crater II and implies that its nature is more like a dSph rather than a UFD. We also estimated the mean metallicity, reddening, and distance of Crater II, from the photometric and pulsation properties of the RR Lyrae stars. The stellar population model we have constructed indicates that Crater II is dominated by an old population, but is relatively younger than the oldest globular clusters in the MW. With a lack of high-amplitude short-period RRab stars, Crater II, like most of the other less massive dSphs, is probably not a surviving counterpart of the major building blocks of the MW halo.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/625/A1
- Title:
- RR Lyrae variables NIR light-curve templates
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/625/A1
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We provide homogeneous optical (UBVRI) and near-infrared (NIR, JHK) time series photometry for 254 cluster (omega Cen, M4) and field RR Lyrae (RRL) variables. We ended up with more than 551000 measurements. For 94 fundamental (RRab) and 51 first overtones (RRc) we provide a complete optical/NIR characterization (mean magnitudes, luminosity amplitudes, epoch of the anchor point). The NIR light curves of these variables were adopted to provide new light-curve templates for both RRc and RRab variables. The templates for the J and the H bands are newly introduced, together with the use of the pulsation period to discriminate among the different RRab templates. To overcome uncertainties in the fit of secondary features of the light curves we provide two independent sets of analytical functions (Fourier and periodic Gaussian series).
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/900/118
- Title:
- RSGs in the LMC & sp. follow-up for LMC & SMC
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/900/118
- Date:
- 20 Jan 2022 11:32:23
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The binary fraction of unevolved massive stars is thought to be 70%-100% but there are few observational constraints on the binary fraction of the evolved version of a subset of these stars, the red supergiants (RSGs). Here we identify a complete sample of RSGs in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) using new spectroscopic observations and archival UV, IR, and broadband optical photometry. We find 4090 RSGs with logL/L_{sun}_>3.5, with 1820 of them having logL/L_{sun}_>4, which we believe is our completeness limit. We additionally spectroscopically confirmed 38 new RSG + B-star binaries in the LMC, bringing the total known up to 55. We then estimated the binary fraction using a k-nearest neighbors algorithm that classifies stars as single or binary based on photometry with a spectroscopic sample as a training set. We take into account observational biases such as line-of-sight stars and binaries in eclipse while also calculating model- dependent corrections for RSGs with companions that our observations were not designed to detect. Based on our data, we find an initial result of 13.5_-6.67_^+7.56^% for RSGs with O- or B-type companions. Using the Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis models to correct for unobserved systems, this corresponds to a total RSG binary fraction of 19.5_-6.7_^+7.6^% . This number is in broad agreement with what we would expect given an initial OB binary distribution of 70%, a predicted merger fraction of 20%-30%, and a binary interaction fraction of 40%-50%.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/811/85
- Title:
- RVs & V-band LCs of probable members of Cyg OB2
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/811/85
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The Cygnus OB2 Association is one of the nearest and largest collections of massive stars in the Galaxy. Situated at the heart of the "Cygnus X" complex of star-forming regions and molecular clouds, its distance has proven elusive owing to the ambiguous nature of kinematic distances along this l~=80{deg} sightline and the heavy, patchy extinction. In an effort to refine the three-dimensional geometry of key Cygnus X constituents, we have measured distances to four eclipsing double-lined OB-type spectroscopic binaries that are probable members of Cyg OB2. We find distances of 1.33+/-0.17, 1.32+/-0.07, 1.44+/-0.18, and 1.32+/-0.13kpc toward MT91 372, MT91 696, CPR2002 A36, and Schulte 3, respectively. We adopt a weighted average distance of 1.33+/-0.06kpc. This agrees well with spectrophotometric estimates for the Association as a whole and with parallax measurements of protostellar masers in the surrounding interstellar clouds, thereby linking the ongoing star formation in these clouds with Cyg OB2. We also identify Schulte 3C (O9.5V), a 4" visual companion to the 4.75 day binary Schulte 3(A+B), as a previously unrecognized Association member.
